It Was Just A Joke

To my son Tommy,

We have arrived at that time of year where we "spring forward" our clocks by one hour called Daylight Savings Time. Our government, in its infinite wisdom, steals an hour from us today, then lies to us about the real time for eight months (it used to be six months), and then gives us the hour back. Or to paraphrase an American Indian saying, cuts off a foot of cloth from the top of the blanket, sews it on the bottom, and tells us we now have a longer blanket.

The whole idea of daylight savings time, in theory, was to help people get up earlier and use the most of the daylight hours. It is falsely attributed to Ben Franklin, who once wrote a satirical and humorous letter to the the authors of The Journal Of Paris, basically saying that if the French got up before noon they would get more done and save on candle wax. He went on to satirically suggest bell ringings at sunrise, cannon soundings at sunrise, taxes on shudders and blinds and all types of jokes about how to make people do what they should responsibly do themselves. It was a joke and by no means was Ben Franklin actually suggesting we change the clocks. But just like internet memes hold more credit if you put a picture of a famous and/or respected person next to some text, whether it is truth or falsehood, you gain instant credibility.

I have a bunch of friends who can see a good conspiracy in just about anything. They do so often without reason, but, in the case of good ole DST, it is hard to disagree with them. They point to this lie as a way for the government to condition you to being lied to, and condition you to accepting the excuse that it is for your own good. They point out how they even extended this lie in 2005 and added another two months to this lie. They point to the fact that they promised us all this energy reduction yet it is completely negligible (some put it at .0003 %) if existent at all. They point to the cost when they made the new rule and screwed all the computers running in the world that had hard coded the old rule. They say that was a government created IT fix to support their corporate backers who were trying to sell newer computer hardware or services. It is the ultimate in government meddling. They often don't see the big picture that time, with respect to minutes, hours, and days, and such, is actually a man-made construct which is all a lie to try and explain, and quantify and calculate and control, time as it really exists in the natural world.

And most of us sit back and just take it. We now feel entitled to that extra hour of sunlight during the summer to enjoy our cookout (or search for bugs and golf which were the hobbies of Hudson who proposed DST) and the two month extension might have been a government attempt to placate us. But don't worry, I expect that this government will soon extend it another four months and we will soon fall back on New Year's eve and spring forward New Year's day. Effectively, the government is going to see if it can finally steal that one foot of cloth they cut off the top without sewing it back to the bottom, for our own good of course. Think critically my son and don't just accept!

Sincerely with love from your dad,
Leo